Millions of people were following online as an Airbus jet operated by Qantas touched down in Toulouse, France, on Tuesday. It had just completed a marathon: flying 12,460 nautical miles in 24 hours and 24 minutes nonstop from Melbourne, Australia.

周二，当澳洲航空运营的一架空中客车客机在法国图卢兹降落时，数以百万计的人在网上关注着这一时刻。这架飞机刚刚完成了一场马拉松式的飞行：从澳大利亚墨尔本起飞，耗时24小时24分钟不间断飞行了12460海里。

Only the specially manufactured plane wasn’t carrying any passengers. It was a test for the airline’s long awaited Project Sunrise, which aims to offer the first nonstop flights between Sydney and London starting next year.

不过，这架特制的飞机没有搭载任何乘客。这是该航空公司备受期待的“日出计划”的一次测试，该计划旨在从明年开始提供悉尼与伦敦之间的首次直飞航班。

The route would become the world’s longest commercial passenger service and usher in a new era of ultralong-haul travel. It has also raised a host of questions. How can a plane fly for so long without refueling? How do humans survive that many hours in the skies? And would anyone want to take such a trip?

该航线将成为全球最长的商业客运航线，并开启超长途飞行的新时代。它也引发了一系列疑问：飞机如何在不加油的情况下飞行这么久？人类如何在空中度过这么多个小时？又是否有人愿意踏上这样的旅程？

Here are some answers.

以下是一些答案。

What is Project Sunrise?

什么是日出计划？

In 2017, Qantas announced plans to connect Australia to London and New York with direct flights that would reduce current travel times by up to four hours by doing away with transfers in Asia, the Middle East or North America.

2017年，澳洲航空宣布计划开通澳大利亚至伦敦和纽约的直飞航线，省去在亚洲、中东或北美转机，将现有的旅行时间缩短最多四个小时。

To do this, in 2022, Qantas ordered 12 specially modified Airbus A350-1000ULR jets. After several delays, test flights began last month. The first major one was a flight from Toulouse, Airbus’s headquarters, to Melbourne, a journey that took 19 hours and 12 minutes.

为此，澳航于2022年订购了12架经过特殊改装的空客A350-1000ULR客机。经过多次延期后，测试飞行于上月开始。首次重大测试是从空客总部图卢兹飞往墨尔本，历时19小时12分钟。

The return flight this week took longer, as the flight team — consisting of several Airbus flight test crew members, two design engineers and two Qantas technical pilots — tried to simulate the longest potential commercial route and account for unexpected diversions, according to Airbus.

空客公司表示，本周的回程飞行耗时更长，因为由数名空客飞行测试机组成员、两名设计工程师和两名澳航技术飞行员组成的飞行团队试图模拟最长潜在商业航线，并考虑意外绕航的情况。

“This was the longest flight ever flown by an Airbus aircraft,” a spokesman for the company said in a statement on Wednesday. “We are now evaluating the data with the relevant authorities to determine if it also qualifies as an official world record.”

空客公司的一位发言人在周三的声明中表示：“这是空客飞机有史以来飞行距离最长的一趟航班。我们目前正与相关部门评估数据，以确定它是否符合官方世界纪录的认定标准。”

上周，澳洲航空的飞行员们在墨尔本参观日出计划的执飞飞机。

More than 3.6 million people tracked its route on Flightradar24, the website said, the second most tracked flight in the site’s history. (More than five million followed the Royal Air Force flight carrying Queen Elizabeth II’s coffin from Edinburgh to R.A.F. Northolt near London in 2022).

航班跟踪网站Flightradar24表示，超过360万人在该网站上追踪了这一航线，使其成为该网站历史上受关注度第二高的航班。（2022年，超过500万人追踪了运送伊丽莎白二世女王灵柩从爱丁堡飞往伦敦附近皇家空军诺斯霍尔特基地的英国皇家空军航班）。

Qantas anticipates that the Sydney to London flight, which will take up to 22 hours, will operate daily beginning in October 2027. There is no timing for the start of service between New York and Sydney, although further details are expected next year, the airline said.

澳航预计，悉尼至伦敦的航班将长达22小时，并将于2027年10月开始每日运营。澳航表示，纽约与悉尼之间的服务开通时间尚未确定，但预计明年将公布更多细节。

How can the plane fly for so long?

飞机如何能够飞行这么久？

Part of the reason that the customized Airbus A350-1000ULR can fly such long distances without refueling is because of the installation of an additional rear center fuel tank. That allows the aircraft to carry an additional 5,300 gallons of fuel and helps extend the plane’s range from about 9,100 nautical miles to 10,000 nautical miles, according to Airbus.

定制的空客A350-1000ULR之所以能够在不加油的情况下飞行如此遥远的距离，部分原因在于加装了额外的后部中央燃油箱。据空客介绍，这使得该飞机能够多装载5300加仑的燃油，并有助于将飞机的航程从约9100海里延长至10000海里。

On the return flight this week, the team tested the fuel management and air conditioning systems, as well as the flight crew rest area. The new plane will be able to fly over the North Pole region, a first for an Australian commercial airline, according to a statement by Qantas’s chief technical pilot, Alex Passerini.

在本周的回程航班上，团队测试了燃油管理和空调系统，以及机组人员休息区。根据澳航首席技术飞行员亚历克斯·帕塞里尼的声明，这架新飞机能够飞越北极地区，这对于澳大利亚的商业航空公司来说尚属首次。

“There’s obviously lower density, less traffic and so on” near the North Pole, he said, “so we can get the best out of the airplane.”

他说：“北极附近有空气密度明显较低、交通流量较少等条件，所以我们可以发挥出飞机的最佳性能。”

The North Pole route will operate during winters in the Northern Hemisphere because of favorable jetstreams, with the airline flying more traditional routes at other times.

由于喷射气流条件有利，北极航线将在北半球的冬季运营，而在其他时间，该航空公司将执飞更传统的航线。

What will it be like for passengers?

对乘客来说体验如何？

The plane is designed with 238 seats across four cabins: first, business, premium economy and economy. This is fewer seats than on a standard long-haul flight and means more space for passengers.

该飞机设计有238个座位，四个舱位：头等舱、商务舱、特选经济舱和经济舱。座位数量少于标准长途航班，这意味着乘客拥有更宽敞的空间。

Qantas said the plane will also have a “well-being zone” where passengers can get snacks and stretch. The airline said it had worked with a range of health and food experts, including from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Center, to find ways to reduce jet lag and the effects of being in a plane for 20 hours.

澳航表示，飞机上还将设有一个“健康区”，乘客可以在那里领取小吃并舒展身体。该航空公司表示，已与包括悉尼大学查尔斯·珀金斯中心的专家在内的一系列健康和食品专家合作，寻找方法减轻时差反应，以及缓解长达20小时飞行所带来的不适。

Professor Stephen Simpson, who leads the center’s team working on Project Sunrise, said that plans include modifications to cabin lighting and meal ingredients. For example, breakfasts will contain caffeine or chili to help your body wake up, and the lights will be brighter.

领导该中心“日出计划”团队的史蒂芬·辛普森教授表示，计划包括对客舱照明和餐食成分进行调整。例如，早餐将含有咖啡因或辣椒帮助身体清醒，且舱内灯光将更加明亮。

A team of scientists flew on three specialized research flights — using another aircraft — from Sydney to New York and London in 2019 and monitored 23 volunteers. Those with specially designed menus, lighting, sleep and movement plans experienced less severe jet lag and better cognitive performance in the two days after the flight.

2019年，一组科学家乘坐另一架飞机进行了三次专项研究飞行，从悉尼飞往纽约和伦敦，并对23名志愿者进行了监测。在飞行后的两天里，那些使用专门设计的菜单、照明、睡眠和活动计划的志愿者时差反应较轻，且认知能力更好。